Adams Hurricane Fundraisers Deliver 25K Pounds of Goods

Northern Berkshire Hurricane Relief is added to the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties' album of donators.

ADAMS, Mass. — The Northern Berkshire community provided more than 25,000 pounds of supplies to the victims of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey.

Local truck driver Wayne Piaggi offered his time and tractor-trailer to drive donations to New Jersey and after two weekend of collection supplies, he dropped off more than a dozen tons of food, water, clothing and cleaning supplies on Monday to the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

"Everything went great," Piaggi said on Friday. "They couldn't believe that the Northern Berkshires would do that for them."

With the needed supplies, Piaggi also delivered a $2,000 check from donations made in a Greylock Federal Credit Union account he established. That account is still open and, around Christmas, he'll be delivering another check with whatever monetary donations continue to come in.

"In this time of Thanksgiving, we would like to express our gratitude to all who supported The FoodBank's work in recent weeks. We received donations, large and small, from supporters, near and far, and thanks to their generosity, The FoodBank has distributed more than 1 million pounds of food and supplies since the devastating storm, Sandy, struck our communities."

Not only were New Jersey residents surprised at the donations, but Piaggi was as well. The effort — loading and sorting — was difficult with the amount of donations far exceeding his expectations.

But with other volunteers helping, the effort went smoothly. The Adams Forest Wardens allowed the donations to be dropped off and stored at their garage and he was accompanied on Monday by friends who helped with collections.

"I was asked the other day if I would do it again and my answer is 'yes.' It's the right thing to do," Piaggi said after recapping the effort.

On Saturday, he's driving a truckload of donated blankets to Breezy Point, N.Y., from the Albany, N.Y., area for a company that hired him to haul goods. A number of local fire departments have also connected with Breezy Point to provide firefighting equipment and construction help.

But the out-of-pocket expenses of using his own truck to make the New Jersy delivery and the need to get back to work, Piaggi said he won't be taking another truck load. Anyone who would like to help is encouraged to donate the account at the Greylock Federal Credit Union.

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